In Part 2 of our crossover with MovieRob Minute WWII veteran Ceo Bauer (95th Infantry Division, “Iron Men of Metz”) continues his powerful story. At 102 years old, Ceo reflects on forgiveness, receiving his Purple Heart, and returning decades later to the battlefields of Metz and Luxembourg.

He explains the mystery of WWII “invasion money,” shares how he first met Christian Taylor—sparking the journey that became The Girl Who Wore Freedom—and reads an unforgettable letter of gratitude written by French citizen Elizabeth Gosso for the 50th anniversary of Metz’s liberation.

This conversation captures Ceo’s humor, candor, and resilience, while reminding us why keeping these stories alive matters.

👉 Part 1 of this unforgettable conversation with Ceo is available on streaming platforms.

Documentary First Website, support us by buying merch or watching our films: https://documentaryfirst.com/

Timecodes:

00:00 – Reflections on forgiveness and fellow soldiers

03:00 – Returning to Metz and finding Steele’s grave

06:00 – Receiving the Purple Heart after being wounded

10:00 – Transport, hospitals, and survival memories

15:00 – WWII “invasion money” explained

19:00 – How Christian and Ceo first met & The Girl Who Wore Freedom

34:00 – Ceo reads Elizabeth Gosso’s powerful French gratitude letter

42:00 – Passing on memory to the next generation

50:00 – Reflections on peace, Israel, and supporting allies

Did you forgive him or did you still call him a son of a bitch?

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oh yeah.

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forgive him?

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Or did you...

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Bitch.

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Did you forgive him?

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Did you forgive him?

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You talked to him about when you custom out, didn't you?

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Uh, yeah, I asked him, well, you remember me cussing you out?

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No, I don't remember.

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No, I don't remember a thing, you know, and I, I believe him.

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I didn't really, I didn't really forgive him, but what I did was forgave Steele and I

didn't, I didn't know, you know, where Steele was buried.

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but steel is buried overseas where General Patton is buried in Luxembourg.

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He's buried there.

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I didn't know it, but when we rifle guys started going over to, and you didn't hear that,

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find out where we were and follow where iCompany went.

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In fact, we even went to uh behind the iron curtain two or three times because my foxhole

buddy, Steve Bodner had relatives in Krakow.

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Yeah, had relatives in Krakow.

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So we went there, which is a great experience.

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I can talk all day and all night about that.

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the curtain.

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Yeah, next time.

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Yeah.

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But anyway, we went, of course, naturally, to go to General Patton's, pay respects to him.

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did.

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And so, you know, we were surprised to find out, you know, that they didn't bury him row

on row.

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So many people came that they buried him separate where people could come and not tread

down the...

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you know, find them.

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They buried out away from the regular graves.

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You probably knew that.

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Anyway, but randomly we just started walking, you know, through the looking.

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And the next thing I knew, I was looking at Steele's cross.

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So I forgave him.

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Then I repeated it last year.

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We went, we went.

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uh When we were there last spring, last, in November, we went back there and I

deliberately went on purpose, went to Steele's grave once and spoke a little bit about it.

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I think you weren't there, Christian.

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Christian wasn't there, no.

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So I did the...

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But you forgave him.

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don't think we said when you were coming back, you ran into steel going in and he just

didn't help you.

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No, Darren, was a sergeant.

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He wouldn't help, but Steele caught part of it.

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So I just, I did it to both of them.

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Yeah, naturally.

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After that then, then with no help, I had to get down and crawl through that stuff.

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And I crawled in and I got in the house.

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And I'll tell you if the Germans had wanted to attack right then, uh they would have blown

right through us just like that, I'd say.

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Because...

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Well, our, you know, our mortars were, uh I don't know about the artillery, but our

company mortars were, uh you know, operating and firing.

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They would be discouraged from that.

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Anyway, I got in the house and I got in the house.

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Well, again, nobody to help me.

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was a guy or two that was there.

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They weren't gonna help me.

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They were gonna be vigilant.

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And I just wanted to get down cellar down the stairs down in the basement because the uh

platoon aid man was there and he was tending to eight or 10 wounded guys down there in the

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basement.

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And so uh I laid on the floor once again and cussed until finally.

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uh

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Heavy weapons platoon officer showed up and they'd been firing oh overhead fire.

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They'd been firing with uh water-cooled machine guns.

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They'd fired during the attack and uh they weren't firing anymore.

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so he helped me down to Seller and there then, I just...

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laid there hoping for somebody to help me.

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And a guy named Burns from Chicago, you're from Chicago, that's one plus.

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Sergeant, he came over and I couldn't see that he was very seriously wounded, but uh I

couldn't see that he was.

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He came over and asked me if I'd taken my wound tablets.

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I said, no, I lost them.

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uh

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So we had wound tablets and say, well, you're have mine.

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You need them more than I do.

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Yeah, so I took them.

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And then, you know, the first aid man, I think maybe he was killed later.

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I kind of heard that, but I'm not sure.

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This is things you hear.

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Reunions.

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But,

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He came over and did what vanishing up he could on my leg and my arm.

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I had a bad wound on the arm too, which caused my, uh which cut the muscle.

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so my, my actually hand hung down, didn't raise, it was just muscle.

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And uh then three of my fingers were down, not straight, not normal.

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But anyway,

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I said they all look fine now, so I guess I'm...

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That's right, you're seeing them.

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That's right.

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You're seeing them and I'm I'm seeing you.

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Yeah, yeah, I can put my thumbs up.

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yeah.

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And for people that are just listening, just so you know, we are going to put this on the

Documentary First YouTube channel.

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So if you do want to see CEO and his moving hands or the photos of iCompany, you can go to

the Documentary First YouTube channel and we will put all that there.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Right.

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So anyway, it was probably I had to wait and the stretcher team from, you know, came down.

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Medics, stretcher team came down.

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Things were quieted down now, nothing happening.

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And at least right where we were.

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And so so we we we wound up.

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They put me on a stretcher and started to carry me back to Battalion Aid, which was

probably a half mile back in town, in one of the buildings in town.

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And I'll always remember there was some incoming artillery from the Met's forts coming in,

but it was going over us.

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It was, and I'll always remember telling the stretcher team, I wanted to get back.

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to the battalion eight.

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I wanted to live.

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And when it would come over and it was already over, they were belatedly uh laying the

stretcher down and taking cover.

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I remember telling them, hey, keep going.

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Keep going, it's already passed.

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So I did that, I got back there.

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And once again, I had to wait and you know, there was wooded there till my turn and on the

stretcher.

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And so when it was my turn or before my turn, I looked over there and who was there but

Darren, he beat me back there.

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Tony Darren, the guy I cast out.

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And he was laying on another table and uh

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So I don't recall that I talked to him at all or that he would talk.

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uh anyway, when you get to the doctor and I even remember his name, was Doc Herbert.

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You have such a good memory.

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It's a mixture.

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I remember that, but what you tell me now, I can't remember it.

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What do you mean?

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You tell me the number of this house.

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I forgot it.

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uh The only way I could remember it is put it on the screen.

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I remind myself every once in while.

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I say, I'm different from other people that I remember.

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That was different.

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I, you know, that was a life, life-shaking experience.

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He wounded on the line in the dark inside the German lines.

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Who the hell, who the hell can you talk to that's done that?

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That's true.

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Nobody.

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No,

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Wow, thank you very much for sharing.

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Anyway, Doc Herbert looked at me, know, looked at my wounds and looked at my wounds and uh

they actually did, he actually did, you know, cleaned them up the first time, cleaned them

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up from the dirt and everything that was in it.

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And by the way,

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The first thing they do is cut your clothes off.

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Yeah, we're.

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Okay, no.

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want to know.

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And throw them away.

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then they, they said, well, you're good enough.

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We can, you're not hurt bad enough.

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Well, I said, you're not hurt very bad.

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Well, I didn't believe that.

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I knew that I was hurt quite bad.

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But we can give you a sedative.

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So they did.

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So they did, they gave me that.

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Then I had to wait to be taken back to the field hospital, which was several miles back of

the fighting to the field hospital.

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Then the field hospital, that's where you'd get good attention.

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real medical attention.

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So, uh but on the way there, I was on a Jeep and I always tell people that they wondered,

you know, you're riding a Jeep in World War II.

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said, infantrymen had only two ways to get a ride in a Jeep, to be injured or killed.

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Right.

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Only two.

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Maybe it's the same way in the Israeli army.

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I don't know.

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Thankfully, I haven't experienced either of those, so I couldn't tell you.

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Well, but you probably talk to people, you know, You get stories about.

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Yeah, that's that's where you learn things where you learn learn things about the real

war.

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For sure.

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What happened?

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So so anyway, I was laying on the upper stretcher.

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They put two on one low and one high.

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Well, just lay and look it up.

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but being kind of sedated, kind of halfway semi-dreaming, why I thought I was looking down

the road.

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So I was hallucinating that the machine gun fire was going across at stretcher height.

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Mmm.

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wow.

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yeah, but it didn't, being sedated didn't seem to bother me.

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I just kind of steeled myself, well, that's it.

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And I had did that two, three times before I uh realized, hell, that's me.

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I'm just imagining that, you know, that's me.

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So the first thing in the hospital I got, I was sedated enough that I woke up sometime uh

early in the morning.

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And the first thing that happened to me was that a lieutenant colonel came down the line

carrying a purple heart.

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And I, for a couple of beds before me, he awarded the Purple Heart to the guy laying

there.

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And uh so I was, and one of them, I'll always remember, he, you you're bad when you're

wounded.

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I was mad, and this guy was,

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You're mad wine.

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Yeah.

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I even mistell you how bad I was.

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I was mad that I got there.

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I laid there a god damn and Roosevelt, god damn Hitler, god damn everybody.

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You're bad.

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And that's a thing.

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If you can be mad, you're a good, you're a good shape.

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But so, so I, I did that.

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And when he got to be, but this guy gave the lieutenant colonel, what are you doing here?

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You you should be on the front line.

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know, he did.

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Well, I'm, you know, I'm well disciplined enough, you know, that that was a right to be

doing that, you know, when he got to be then, you know, I didn't do that.

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You know, I was respectful.

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said, you you're awarded the Purple Heart and uh you're awarded the Purple Heart and I

know that you can't keep it with you, so it'll be put in your effects and you'll get it

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later.

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It'll come to you.

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Well, I got it later when I got back to USA.

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Mm-hmm.

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uh

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Yeah.

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Which took how long?

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How long?

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Well, I spent time in the hospital and I didn't get back to USA till the first or second

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And you know what I got in my stuff?

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All of my clothes.

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I even had a camera, but no film.

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You couldn't buy film back then.

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It's all gone to war.

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m

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I got my Purple Heart, minus my clothes, minus my camera, minus almost everything except

my pocketbook, which I still have.

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Maybe Kim has got it.

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Minus the invasion currency.

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wow.

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How much?

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And the pictures of my family that I had in.

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That's all I got back from that.

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So you didn't have your pictures of your family, they weren't in there?

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They were in there and your invasion money was in there?

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No, he said the least I knew was no.

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And so how much invasion money did they give you in the beginning?

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Do you remember?

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And did you ever spend any of it?

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Right, that's what I thought.

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Exactly.

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I don't know what you're.

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Well, it was Franks, of course, and it wasn't normal Franks.

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It was uh printed here in the USA.

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I don't know how they handled that.

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imagine they exchanged.

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The US government was probably literally giving money to the French government.

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Probably.

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After the economy

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what happened.

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I know what happened.

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So after if you were to buy bread, let's say with the invasion money, you gave it to a

baker.

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And so the baker had all this invasion money.

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When the Marshall Plan came in, let's say, and they're starting to get the economy back up

and running, the baker would take the invasion money to the people that were, uh what is

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it called?

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The sustainment people that were trying to help set up the

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government and they would trade that invasion money for the right.

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So that's how it works.

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Yeah, there you go.

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Yeah, there you go.

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Wow.

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Thank you very much for telling that story.

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So now what's interesting to me is how did the two of you meet up?

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I know Kristen's story about Normandy and everything like that, but I don't know how she

found you or you found her or whatever it is.

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Christian found me because I'm not computer literate and I don't find much of anybody, you

know, not able to search but computer is uh Christian I think is a genius at doing

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computer work and all of that.

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Do you actually know how I found you?

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I don't, but I'll give my version and you can give yours.

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All right.

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All right.

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And then we'll let everyone decide what's the

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uh Anyway, Christian called me and said, let me know she was coming and would uh I uh

participate, you know, in being interviewed.

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And so I, okay, yeah, I'd been interviewed by people before, but I was just overwhelmed

when Christian showed up with five people.

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And something like that.

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She's a cameraman and a couple other people and somebody to do the sound and Christian.

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And I had called my local paper, which is a weekly and said, hey, I'm being interviewed.

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Maybe you want to have a reporter down there.

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So they did.

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So here I wound up with uh I live all I live in a bungalow style.

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place and I basically don't go upstairs or I don't go downstairs and I live on the first

floor all the time, living a line from the front door to the back door.

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That's it.

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Here I got all these people in the house.

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And here they've got the cameras and they've got the lights.

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They've got all this crazy stuff, the recording stuff.

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all in my room plus plus the local reporter so jesus anyway and that's my first time to be

uh be be be uh actually movie you know videos my first time so i'm amazed at how they do

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it you know they have to get the lights right and they have to get the they say wait until

we

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Wait until we write and then as I recall when they were, then they did clap clap or

something like that.

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Clap that we're gonna film now.

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Then they'd film a little while and then they'd have to move me and set me again.

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We didn't move you, we moved the cameras.

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Nobody can move you.

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ah

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Yeah.

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anyway, they, they, they, they kept, kept going and kept going.

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And I kept thinking, I think they'll be done finally.

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So about three hours later.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Your turn.

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Okay, well you were mostly right.

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You were mostly right.

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Now do you know how long ago that was?

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Think about it for one second.

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four years.

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So it was actually 2018.

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Can you believe that?

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Stunning.

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what happens when you're honored and do.

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You were 95 when I met you.

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I mean, you were a young chick.

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I thought you were old then.

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I thought you were old then and you were just a young pup.

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I would know it, yeah.

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So the way that it happened actually in the very beginning was a little bit different

because I had just, you know, this whole movie thing just fell in my lap.

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I was actually just a actress.

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Oh, that was all I did.

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I did voiceovers on radio and television and I, you know, that's all I did until Hunter

went to Normandy and then I discovered what they did in Normandy and I

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wanted to tell the American people about what they did there.

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so Michelle Coupe, my co-producer, you know who she is.

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knew I wanted to interview veterans in the United States, but I really didn't know any.

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So Flo Plana happened to be coming to Wheaton, Illinois, where I live.

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And she told me that he was coming to Cantini.

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The big red one has a museum five minutes from my house.

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I live right by Cantini.

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so Flo, she, yeah.

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So Flo Plana and I met and we went to Cantini together.

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We got to know each other.

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And right after that, he was coming to interview you and he asked me if I wanted to come

along.

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And so he was coming with his mother as well.

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So he, his mother and Flo, and then my whole team of

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cameraman and sound man and lighting people like ever.

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We all invaded your house.

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All of us.

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So from there, all that from the.

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You know, and I'd forgotten Flo came.

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And his mother.

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I forgot that.

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Yeah, it was a very special day because, you know, what was so interesting to me is Flo

started the whole interview.

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Flo did the whole interview with you.

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And it was the most...

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Yeah, Flo was...

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uh

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Well, you said that you don't remember everything from the last decade, but you remember

things from eight decades ago, so that's...

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Yeah, right.

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So for those of you who don't know who Flo Plana is, Florian Plana is a, he's actually an

amazing historian, but he's also a tour guide in Normandy and he has World War II Veterans

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Memories.

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It's a tour company and he uh has all social media as World War II Veterans Memories and

he is just an amazing, amazing man.

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And I highly respect him, but that was the first interview I have ever.

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watched him do and it was just magnificent.

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He came fully prepared.

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He understood all about not only the 95th Infantry Division, not only the 377th Infantry

Regiment, but he understood about I Company and he understood about, you know, their whole

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movements.

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And he began to ask CEO questions as if he was part of I Company.

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He knew where they had been and what they had done.

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And so CEO began to talk to him

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and they really formed this comradery during the interview.

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And he talked to him from the beginning of when he was born in Carson City, Michigan.

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And we got all the way to the end of the story and uh it was masterful.

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And so I learned so much at that time.

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And what was interesting to me was that as Flo, as a Frenchman was...

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talking to him, I realize that was the key moment for me in my whole uh experience of this

film the girl who were freedom because I really I watched you I watched you in that moment

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change from the moment that we got there to when we left and you probably don't remember

this either, but you got happier and happier and happier.

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Yeah, and by the time we left.

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Yeah.

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dancing.

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You were dancing.

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No, you were just you were just dancing.

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It wasn't even a pump handle.

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You were just dancing and you were marching for us and you were so happy.

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And I thought, you know,

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Well, I like to put out the word.

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I'm motivated by putting out the word.

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In fact, I wind up saying to people, it's my duty.

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I've got the military.

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uh I don't exactly know.

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quite the words to say, but you know, I got the discipline of the military and I still got

it.

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oh

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He still does marches daily and.

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Yeah, well, they drill it into you, so there's no reason that you should lose that.

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But what I saw was that as somebody cared about your story and somebody listened to you,

just like Rob is doing, it made you feel cared about and it made you feel happy.

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That's therapy.

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And that is how I learned that as Americans and civilians, we can truly show gratitude to

our veterans.

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And that's the message of my film.

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And it's what the French told me.

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And it's what I really think is important.

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And it's not just for veterans, actually.

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What I've learned is that we need to do that not only to older citizens, but I mean, it's

true for anyone.

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True for anyone.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, you need to put it out, you know, and hope people will listen.

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You need to do the same thing.

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You tell your story, Rob, about your service.

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uh Have I told it or will I tell it now?

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Have you told it?

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Yeah?

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mean, isn't that much to talk about, but yeah.

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uh

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Your military service was compulsory, yeah?

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No, actually I volunteered.

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You did.

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What years did you serve?

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I started serving in 1993.

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was in the regular army for one year and then I did reserve duty for another 14 years.

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Reserve duty is basically one month a year.

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Okay.

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You know, I've been to Israel.

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Yeah, me too.

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I took a, yeah, I, I imagine I did the pump paddle there.

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Very fast.

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Well, you probably did it at the edge of the Red Sea, Mike.

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I've got the uh, where's the Globus?

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I took the Globus tour.

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they got that brochure there.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I did this tour, Globus, and...

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uh

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It in 1995.

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Okay, I was here.

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I came in 92.

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I've been here since.

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I actually did Israel and Egypt.

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so I and it was a good tour.

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Really liked it.

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I swam in the Dead Sea.

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Well, you can't really swim in it, you float in it.

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I floated, yeah.

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Hard to get your feet down.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You know, I floated in there and there was, it was surprising there wasn't anybody else in

there but me.

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Yeah.

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It depends on what time you hear it.

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The tour group went and but I don't know they were unsure doing something so I'm going to

swim.

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So I had my swim coats.

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I got on there and I'd like to swim and see how it is.

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So I got in there and they told me don't put your head underwater or you know you that

doesn't work.

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So I floated.

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But I'll always remember you know I

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kept thinking maybe I'm getting too far out, know, floating out, maybe I'm getting, I'm

trying to put my feet down.

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And all I remember, Jesus, it's an effort to put your feet down.

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That's right.

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Yeah.

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But uh I went to the river Jordan and I'm a trout fisherman, headwater trout fisherman,

brook trout and trout.

427

So I...

428

I really, really liked that to be on the headwaters.

429

And I looked at the Jordan, said, geez, I believe this is Trout Stream.

430

Probably is, I imagine they struck it, but I wasn't smart enough.

431

I'm a guy that wings it.

432

So I just took the tour.

433

I'll see what happens, know, takes what happens.

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So we got to the Jordan River.

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I could have been, uh

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baptized.

437

But I didn't know.

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I had G2 to be baptized because I just didn't pay attention.

439

But there was people from four women, ladies from Pennsylvania that paid attention.

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So they disappeared right away and went to have the showers and put on a robe to be

baptized.

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All I could do was watch because I didn't do it.

442

All I could do was watch and I stick my toe in my feet in the Jordan River.

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So I did that.

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uh

445

Well, I think I think the Lord probably knows in your heart that you that you wanted to.

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oh

447

did, yeah.

448

You come back and do it now.

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Never too late.

450

Ha ha ha.

451

Yeah, know, em CEO last night, um I don't want us to get away from this podcast without

him sharing one last thing.

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Last night, CEO and I were talking and he was telling me about a time that he went back to

Europe and there was um a woman who had written a speech and read it to the liberators and

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he read it to me and it was particularly meaningful.

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to him and the other guys that were there.

455

Would you share this with him?

456

Yeah, can he say it?

457

He can.

458

Yeah, I can see he can.

459

I want to hear it.

460

Yeah.

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hear

462

Yeah, and we'll put it up on the YouTube.

463

We'll put a picture.

464

I don't think Christian realized this until I really told her last night that he just went

to the restroom or something.

465

Hahaha

466

He's back.

467

I went to close the door.

468

My son came into the room, opened the door and forgot to close it when he left.

469

I don't think Christian realized uh the significance of this until I read it last night.

470

We were discussing movies, the movies of the World War II movies uh that occurred and the

fact that for you, it was a thing that you did to uh study them.

471

But in fact, I was saying, you know, that there's...

472

There's, there's, they are a story, you know, and that they have to be enhanced somewhat

in order to, to be sold to the public for the public to go up to them.

473

but anyway, I said, said that we fought at the 50th anniversary, we veterans at Mets, we

95th, we're finally thanked.

474

And it was an unusual thing which that we were thanked.

475

This lady, Elizabeth Goso, G-O-Z-Z-O, uh at one of the surrounding small towns around

Metz.

476

ah We had the small towns around Metz.

477

liked to get into the act, kind of.

478

They liked to have you come there and...

479

the mayor will be there and they'll hold the ceremony and maybe bring in for some

Mirabelle, know, some of the local spirit and uh sign into the Hotel DeVille.

480

Anyway, Elizabeth Gosso, and I didn't know her at the time, got up and we probably had at

the 50th anniversary the most

481

World War 95th Division veterans that ever showed up.

482

We probably had 50 or so.

483

So we're down to one now that shows that's me.

484

But Elizabeth got up and off of a handwritten copy, read this.

485

And I start to tear up when I start to talk about it because she finally thanked us.

486

in a way that we could understand.

487

Just a local citizen.

488

I've been to a lot of uh ceremonies before, heard authorities and mayors talk and all

that, but Elizabeth did it.

489

So I'll read it for you.

490

Dear liberators, dear American friends, we want to give expression

491

To our deepest gratitude to you for what you did for us in 1944.

492

I gotta put on my glasses.

493

I'm tearing up but can't read.

494

What you did for us in 1944.

495

We know the terrible cost of our freedom.

496

After a few years spent under the Kuhl, cruel Nazi boot, France was bloodless.

497

French.

498

People daily lived the humiliation, the fear, the denunciations, the threat of torture,

and the concentration camp.

499

It was a nightmare.

500

And then you came.

501

An irresistible impulse, you appeared like a fabulous sunbeam after a terrible four years

long night, like a blessing from God.

502

All those young Americans sacrificed.

503

You wrote a page in our history and without any doubt it is the most beautiful.

504

You offered us the most wonderful present in the world, liberty, but at what cost, at what

price?

505

All these young Americans sacrificed in the spring of their life.

506

All these inhuman suffering which wounded your bodies and your souls, all that you

endured, rend our hearts and pain us.

507

We are so much indebted to you.

508

We have for you the highest respect.

509

You are our heroes who defeated the barbarism and who saved us.

510

You are our dear liberators.

511

We'll never forget you.

512

And our gratefulness for you is deep and endless.

513

You are a graven in our hearts.

514

Thank you wholeheartedly.

515

Thanks, GIs.

516

God bless you all.

517

God bless America.

518

We love you.

519

I never heard it better.

520

Wow, wow, that is...

521

oh It's typical French.

522

know, the French, they've just got it to express themselves.

523

I guess it's because of the Roman influence in France.

524

And I guess it is.

525

I've talked to...

526

uh

527

to uh Elizabeth before, uh after that, she showed up and she, uh you know, she's had a

stroke.

528

I talked to her this last November.

529

I did not long, because I was under control of circumstances, had me under...

530

going from place to place, bang bang, and I couldn't talk long.

531

But Elizabeth, you know, was a great person.

532

She came to the USA even, one reunion, she and her daughter did.

533

well.

534

You know, it's, I think too, what I've learned is that it really is not just the French,

honestly.

535

It's, I've also seen this spirit in the people that live in Luxembourg and the people that

live in the Netherlands.

536

And it's really when you've been oppressed, like she said, I mean, after a few years spent

under the cruel Nazi boot, you know.

537

They lived in humiliation and fear and denunciations and tortures in the concentration

camps and they lived in a nightmare.

538

And when you live like that and someone comes to your rescue, I think that grateful

spirit, they can't help but feel that way about you.

539

Oh, know it.

540

The French have passed that on.

541

They're teaching it to their kids.

542

Their kids know it.

543

They want to touch.

544

We they want to eat.

545

They want to touch the we veterans and they want wanted our signature and they just wanted

and then they would like to talk to you.

546

If you got time, if you can talk to them, but you can't sit over there.

547

ah My.

548

My niece is sitting across from me listening and smiling, but when she and her husband, uh

when I hit 80, I said, somebody better go with me.

549

You I was going with the crew, but somebody better go.

550

So Kim and Carl volunteered to go.

551

That's the first time Kim really understood, really understood what happened.

552

And when she went to this...

553

cemeteries, know, like St.

554

Evold and uh St.

555

Evold and went to the World War I cemeteries.

556

Then she really understood what had occurred, you know, literally in my lifetime.

557

And so she just came home and said, well, we got to take more next time.

558

So every five years we've taken the family, you know.

559

whoever will go, we've taken 12 to 15 people for every year since the 50th.

560

So, and we were in Normandy uh with about 18 or 19 in our family uh last year.

561

That term that Elizabeth used up there, you'll hear that uh at Mets.

562

You'll hear French come up to you and say it.

563

I say all those young Americans, they're referring to really to saying the old military

cemetery.

564

Yeah, the eight or 10,000 point markers that are there referring to.

565

And you know, out of my rifle company, I'm not sure how many men in my rifle company are

buried there, but I

566

My first time there with my buddy Badger, we didn't look up any names, but we just started

walking aimlessly and we'd come across somebody out of our rifle company.

567

And that was a moving experience to do that.

568

Most of them we knew they were killed, but we didn't.

569

uh

570

necessarily knew they were buried there.

571

I'm all right.

572

Wow, this has been such an amazing experience for me to be able to talk to you about all

this stuff.

573

I really do appreciate you being willing to take the time to tell your story so that I can

know it and all of my listeners can know the story and that Christian can have this uh

574

also for her uses on her website and also for posterity.

575

we have this

576

You know, we now have a record of this, which is great.

577

So thank you very much for taking the time today.

578

There's something else I should tell you.

579

uh communication was such before World War II that, uh you know, we just had radio and a

lot of times we didn't have that.

580

And so I did not know about uh Pearl Harbor being bombed because I was out on a farm and

my parents were away.

581

uh And I did not know about it for a full day until the uh came the next afternoon.

582

Can you imagine that happening today?

583

oh we don't have the television instant by instant coverage that we have today.

584

uh And that's hard to explain to a current generation people that

585

They don't understand that we didn't, but in my instance, in most of our instance, I will

tell you that I did not believe the atrocities that were being committed by our enemy,

586

because it just didn't seem reasonable to the, and I think a good share of the Americans

and a good share of the allied.

587

military troops, it's pretty well documented, were amazed, surprised when they uncovered

the concentration camps.

588

No

589

Certainly some of our, certainly our political, you know, people, our national leaders

certainly knew that, but it didn't get to the general public.

590

And probably it may have in Europe, but here in Europe it didn't.

591

And so I just thought I should put that out because let you know it.

592

because it is important.

593

I did hear on tourists, uh I did hear the word, well, we didn't do anything.

594

Well, in my view, we just didn't realize it.

595

But the other thing, we didn't really have a military anyway, oh of consequence at all in

World War II.

596

We had to start out with...

597

from scratch.

598

I guess we had quite a lot of Navy, but we didn't have an army.

599

The guys were training with wooden rifles.

600

want to show you this army picture while we're at it.

601

Look at this handsome guy.

602

And if you're just listening, again, you can go to YouTube and see his picture.

603

We'll put it up.

604

yeah, pretty awesome,

605

Yeah?

606

Yeah.

607

No.

608

You handsome devil.

609

Yeah, well, there's a goddamn few of us left.

610

Rob, we appreciate you having us on.

611

Thank you so much for listening.

612

I know we've taken up so much of your time today.

613

uh

614

Every minute was worth it.

615

No question.

616

you.

617

Yeah, well, good luck.

618

Well, you're a you're a veteran too.

619

yeah.

620

Thank you.

621

uh You know, good luck to the Israeli army.

622

Thank you.

623

I, know, it's, know, the the allies established Israel, really.

624

Because uh Palestine was a uh protector to the British.

625

Correct.

626

Correct.

627

And uh I understand that I kind of remember being surprised by that, by what on the movies

or the news I got.

628

I mean, kind of surprised by that.

629

But I really understand, I really understand that we need to continue to support Israel,

you know, because they're not in a good situation where they are.

630

I do though, I do though kind of feel that we need to stop the fighting if we can find

some reasonable basis to do it.

631

And we need to do that everywhere in the world.

632

We do because we have to remember that people are dying and

633

There are a lot of times they're innocent people and so whatever effort we can do, we need

to do.

634

And God needs to show us the way.

635

True.

636

Very true.

637

Christian, do you want to just tell people what your website is so that they can get in

touch if they want?

638

love that.

639

So uh the film is called The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

640

You can find out more about that and watch the trailer at the girl who wore freedom.com.

641

If you're in America, you can see the film um on Amazon, Apple TV, Voodoo, Google,

YouTube.

642

Unfortunately, if you're in Israel or anywhere outside of the United States, it's very

difficult.

643

I don't know that you can see the film yet.

644

But if you're a distributor anywhere else, we'd love to talk to you.

645

My email is Christian at documentary first.

646

Our production company is documentary first.com and our social media is all documentary

first at, you know, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all of those things.

647

And yeah, we'd love to hear uh from, from anyone that wants to talk to us.

648

So if people want to write CEO emails or letters, you can send them to me, Christian at

documentary first.

649

And I will make sure that he gets them.

650

I like to send him things from people that ah wanna communicate with him.

651

So I'll be happy to do that.

652

Excellent.

653

And finding me is very simple.

654

Just do a quick search for Movie Rob Minute You can find me on Facebook, find me on

Twitter, you can find me on Instagram, you can find me on my website, movierobminute.com

655

And if you want to send me an email, you can send it to movierobminute at movierob.net So

once again, thank you both for joining me today.

656

I will be back tomorrow with another uh interview.

657

But until then, earn this.

658

Earn this.

659

What'd say?

660

earn this.

661

oh earn this.

662

earn it like you've gotta earn it.

663

Oh, okay.

664

I'm going to wind up with what I always say over France.

665

Vive la France, long live the United States of America, and our free world allies.

666

Amen.

667

Amen.

668

Thank you.

669

And I always say on my podcast, which is documentary first, you can find that wherever you

get your podcast.

670

Bye everybody.